What to know about crepe paper

It is an old, lovely craft. Crepe paper has been in our hands for more than a century. In the early 1900s it became the first real stand-in for fresh flowers, a craft passed from mothers to daughters, history folded into every petal. We are in a quiet renaissance of it now, led by thoughtful crafters like you. Today two makers set the standard for craft-grade crepe: Cartotecnica Rossi in Italy and Werola in Germany.

The grain is the secret. Those fine, crinkled lines running through the paper are the grain, and they are what make crepe so unlike any other paper. The grain is what lets it stretch, cup, and curl. When you cut along it, your petals come alive with movement. You will learn to read it as you go, and before long your hands will know it without being told.

Not all crepe is the same. Chinese and American crepe papers are lighter with less stretch, fine for bright party decor and a gentle first try. Italian crepe from Cartotecnica Rossi is bespoke and beautiful, sold in long rolls with visible machine lines that give it character. German crepe from Werola is handcrafted and smoother, and Werola is the maker celebrated for that velvety double-sided crepe. We partnered with Werola about a decade ago to create the Lia Griffith line, built specifically for flower making, in three types: extra-fine, heavy, and double-sided.

Stretch matters more than weight. This one trips people up. Weight in grams is how some papers are measured, but our German papers come in different roll sizes, so a gram number tells you very little. What actually matters is how the paper performs in your hands, and the truest measure of that is stretch. So when you are choosing, think about stretch and feel, not weight.

The three crepes, and where each one lives now

We chose three papers on purpose, because together they give us the full range of what a real flower needs. We often use all three in a single bloom.

Heavy crepe

The sturdy one. With around 250% stretch and a thicker, pronounced texture, heavy crepe holds its shape and is forgiving to work with, which is exactly why it is also our friendliest paper for beginners. It is the one to reach for when a flower is large or sculptural, and it is strong enough to hold a fine fringe for stamen centers.

Best for: big blooms, bold shaping, leaves, fringed centers, and first tries.

Extra-fine crepe

The soft, delicate one, light and almost fabric-like, with a translucent quality that catches the light the way a real petal does. It is lovely on its own for fine, detailed petals. But here is the honest truth of how we work now: we rarely use it alone anymore. More often, extra-fine is the building block, the paper we fuse together to make double-sided.

Best for: delicate petals, detailed work, and as the base for double-sided crepe.

Double-sided crepe

The paper we reach for most these days. Two coordinating colors are bonded into one velvety sheet, so your flowers gain a quiet depth, a lighter shade inside the petal and a deeper one on the back. It has less stretch than the others because it is layered, which actually makes it ideal for flatter or larger petals, leaves, and foliage that need to hold their form. And you are never limited to the pairings on the shelf, because you can fuse two extra-fine colors into your own custom sheet with a little fusible web.

Best for: lifelike depth, flatter and larger petals, leaves, and custom color pairings.

Your free crepe paper swatch guide

Here is the thing no screen can ever get right: color. Crepe has a softness and a depth that a photo flattens every time.

So we made you something better than a chart. Print our three swatch sheets, one for extra-fine, one for heavy, one for double-sided, then snip a small piece of each real color and glue it into its labeled spot. When you are done, you have a true reference you can see and feel, made from the actual paper, to keep beside your worktable for good.

It is a lovely little project in itself, and it takes the guesswork out of every order you place after.

Crepe Paper Swatch SheetDownload

Where to find every color

You will find the complete collection of Lia Griffith crepe paper in our shop, Felt Paper Scissors. You can buy single colors to build your own palette, or curated packs of ten in both heavy and extra-fine when you want a full range in one place.

Shop all crepe paper ›

A few crepe paper terms

If you are new to all this, a few words come up again and again. Here is what they mean.

Grain — the fine crinkled lines in the paper. Cut along them and your petals move naturally.

Stretch — the give that lets a flat sheet open into a cupped petal. The truest measure of a crepe.

Cupping — gently pushing your thumbs into the center of a petal to shape a natural curve.

Ruffling — pinching and lightly stretching a petal's edge to create that perfect, imperfect flutter.

Fringing — cutting fine strips along the grain, most often for the stamen at a flower's center.

Double-sided (doublette) — two colors fused into a single sheet, with a different shade on each face.

Laminating — fusing two extra-fine sheets together with fusible web to make your own double-sided crepe.

A little more for you

Much of what I know about this paper found its way into our book, Paper Flower Garden. If you would like these techniques in your hands at the worktable, twenty-eight flowers, step by step, it is a lovely companion to everything on this page.

Where to begin

If all of this is new, do not worry about getting it perfect.

Pick up a piece of heavy crepe in a color you love, feel how it stretches, and let the paper teach you. That is how every one of us started.

When you are ready for a little guidance, my free foundation series walks you through crepe paper flowers from the very first petal, at your own pace, with me right beside you.

Start with the free foundation series ›

Happy crafting, ~ Lia